Question

What is 3.311 x 10^24 in 2 sig figs?

A. 3.311 x 10^24


B. 3.0 x 10^24


C. 3.31 x 10^24


D. 3.3 x 10^24

Answer 1

D. 3.3 x 10^24

Step-by-step explanation:

In a number representing a measurement, the significant figure are those digits that have a meaningful contribution to specify the resolution of the measurement.

When a number is written in scientific notation, it is written as:

`N=m \cdot 10^n`

where

m is the base

n is the exponent

When a number is written in this form, the number of significant figures is the number of digits contained in
`m`.

In this problem, our number is initially written as

`3.311\cdot 10^(24)`

We see that here "m" contains 4 digits, so here we have 4 significant figures.

In order to reduce it to 2 significant figures, we have to rewrite 3.311 as 3.3, therefore the new number will be:

`3.3\cdot 10^(24)`

Which is option D.